Fact file

The fact file

Sourced facts about chess, the ukulele, dominoes and the guitar. Every fact links to its source, checked 3 Nov 2026.

Chess

Chess is one of the oldest and most popular board games, played by two opponents on a checkered board. [source]
Chess first appeared in India in about the 6th century CE, and by the 10th century it had spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. [source]
The queen is the most powerful piece: it can cross any number of free squares in any direction, straight or diagonal. [source]
The knight has the trickiest move, an L-shape. [source]
Castling is the one exception to moving a single piece at a time: the king and a rook move together. [source]
Only chess sets based on the Staunton design are allowed in international competition today. [source]

From the Laws of Chess of FIDE, the international chess federation:

A chessboard is an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares, alternately light and dark. [source]
The board is placed so that the near corner square on each player’s right is a white (light) square. [source]
At the start, White has 16 light-coloured pieces and Black has 16 dark-coloured pieces. [source]
The player with the light-coloured pieces, White, makes the first move; then the players take turns. [source]
The aim is to put the other player’s king under attack so that they have no legal move. That is checkmate, and it wins the game. [source]
Under FIDE’s rules, if you touch one of your own pieces meaning to move it, you must move the first piece you touched that can be moved. [source]

The name ukulele is Hawaiian for “flea”. [source]
The ukulele comes from the machete, a four-stringed guitar brought to Hawaii by the Portuguese in the 1870s. [source]
A ukulele is seldom more than 60 cm (24 inches) long. [source]
In the 20th century the ukulele was played in Europe and the United States as a jazz and solo instrument. [source]

Dominoes began in China around the 12th century. [source]
Western dominoes probably developed later, separately from the Chinese game, in Italy or France in the 18th century. [source]
The usual set has 28 dominoes. One of them is the double blank. [source]
In the block game, each player draws seven dominoes and keeps the spots hidden from the other players. [source]
Each domino you play must match the open end of a domino already played. [source]
The winner is the player who goes out first, or who has the fewest spots left when everyone is blocked. [source]

The guitar probably began in Spain early in the 16th century. [source]
The early guitar came from the guitarra latina, a late-medieval instrument with a waisted body and four strings. [source]
Over time the guitar gained six strings, which is now the standard. [source]
Changes made in the 19th century, largely by Antonio Torres, led to the classical guitar. [source]

For chords and practice plans, see our beginner site Help Me Learn Guitar.

At Key Stage 1, pupils should be taught to “play tuned and untuned instruments musically”. [source]
At Key Stage 2 in England, pupils should be taught to “play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression”. [source]

Rules of games vary from family to family and club to club. The chess rules above are FIDE’s.

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For beginners of any age: Chess sets · Beginner chess books · Beginner ukuleles · Domino sets · Beginner guitars. These are Amazon UK search links, not endorsements of particular products. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.